Women's Heart Health

FRIDAY, March 15, 2019 -- Think exercise has to be high-intensity to make a difference to your health? Think again. New research shows that even routine housework and gardening can help older women's hearts.

"For older women, any and all movement counts towards better cardiovascular health," said Dr. David Goff. He's director of the division of cardiovascular sciences at the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which funded the new research.

THURSDAY, March 14, 2019 -- Older women who started menstruating at an early age have an increased risk of high blood pressure, new research suggests.

For the study, scientists analyzed data from nearly 7,900 women in China. The investigators found that early-onset menstruation was linked to a much higher chance for high blood pressure in late adulthood, even after taking into account factors such as social and economic background, and lifestyle habits.

TUESDAY, March 26, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- Stressful life events were linked to higher incidents of heart attack, stroke and other types of cardiovascular disease in black women, according to new research that also looked at whether a person's resilience could help ward off the impact of stress.

The study did not find a connection between resilience and cardiovascular disease, but its authors encouraged more research into that area and other potential links.

TUESDAY, Feb. 26, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- Having spent the day at a cousin's cookout, 25-year-old Kelli Tinney and her 27-year-old sister Amanda went back to their house, turned on the television and flopped onto the couch. They eventually both fell asleep there.

Kelli awoke to a pain in the center of her chest. It quickly got worse and her breaths became shallow.

TUESDAY, Feb. 19, 2019 -- Younger U.S. women are suffering heart attacks at a higher rate now than 20 years ago -- even while the picture has improved for younger men.

Those are the key findings from a new study of four U.S. communities, in which researchers report the heart attack rate among women younger than 55 has steadily inched upward since 1995. In contrast, the rate dipped among men in that age group.